Princess Monterey Whale Watching Cruises

I literally missed the boat and they do no refunds or exchanges....I was very disappointed. Not my fault. My GPS took me to the wrong location.

We were in Monterey celebrating our 33rd wedding anniversary with no firm plans of what to do. We found two whale-watching tour brochures at our hotel, but the concierge recommended Princess. I went online to check prices expecting the tour to be at least $75 for the 2.5 hr tour. To my delight it was only $39.95+tax so we made two reservations. The reservation process was very easy to use. The boatride/tour was a delight. The marine biologist onboard was lively and interesting to listen to and we did see LOTS of whale and dolphin activity, as well as marine birds. Safety onboard was emphasized and lots of life jackets in various sizes were easily available. Snacks & soft drinks were available on board also. We had a wonderful time and I highly recommend this tour to anyone who loves being out on the water and seeing marine life.

Excellent experience! The crew and the ship were as expected from a review of the website and other passenger comments. My only suggestion is to take your own binoculars. Enjoy a great few hours.

EXPERIENCING A WHALE WATCHING EXCURSION WAS A LIFE LONG GOAL FOR ME AND I FINALLY WAS ABLE TO FULFILL MY DREAM. WE BOTH ENJOYED OUR TRIP ON THE PRINCESS MONTEREY. THE TOUR GUIDE WAS VERY INFORMATIVE AND HELPFUL TO GUIDE AND INFORM US WHEN THERE WERE SITINGS TO OBSERVE. WE FEEL THAT WE WERE EXTREMELY FORTUNATE TO HAVE HAD THE OPPORTUNITY TO SEE SO MANY WHALES, DOLPHINS AND SEVERAL OTHER TYPES OF MAMMALS, BIRDS , JELLY FISH ETC. MOTHER NATURE GAVE US A GREAT SHOW! WE CAME HOME AND BRAGGED TO ALL OUR FRIENDS AND FAMILY ABOUT OUR WONDERFUL EXPERIENCE AND SHOWED OFF ALL THE GREAT PICTURES THAT WERE CAPTURED ON OUR TRIP AND NOW THEY ALL WANT TO JOIN US FOR OUR NEXT WHALE WATCHING TRIP. WE WILL DEFINATELY PLAN FOR ANOTHER TRIP MAYBE IN THE SPRINGTIME SO THAT WE CAN SEE OTHER TYPES OF WILDLIFE THAT MIGRATE DURING THIS TIME PERIOD. THANK YOU FOR THE WONDERFUL EXPERIENCE

The only negative thing I remember is that their rental binoculars were unusable due to poor quality. Even their new ones were terrible. Granted it was only $5, but it was money that was wasted. Other than that, the staff was very pleasant, and the actual tour guide and captain was very knowledgeable. We got to see hump back and killer whales. It was totally awesome and my kids had a blast.

Saw two blues and one humpback in two hours. Was Ok but we were not very close and could only see blues' backs as they swam plus some blowhole spray action. Humpback swam close and that was good. Overall it was a little dissappointing but in fairness you never know what you are going to get when you go because there are no guarantees. Boat crew was friendly and boat was safe and stable. Kind of neat experience that was worth doing once.

We had a wonderful time on our trip. Katherine our marine biologist was fun and enthusiastic. We saw lots of whales! Thanks so much for an awesome trip.

We saw something like 16 humback whales, 6 or 7 Blue whales, and dolohins. That alone would make for a great trip, but on top of that our guide was very informative, funny, welcoming, and exciting. Great trip I recommend it to anyone. Just remember your Dremamine and keep you eyes on the horizon.

Our daughter, her husband and their two young teens were visiting from Philadelphia - they'd been here before, so we wanted to do something extra special that would be really memorable. This sure met that goal! Air travel is nothing new for them, but we weren't sure how a boat on open water would be tolerated, so we did hand out a motion sickness med beforehand. Everybody was fine - our granddaughter and grandson started out sitting on the benches, but very soon graduated to the front rail, totally enjoying the scenery and the water spray - looked like veteran sailors. Then.........the whales! We saw several gorgeous ones feeding and diving, got some fabulous photos of the flukes as they went down - saw dolphins and jellies too. The trip was even more exciting than we imagined! As a bonus, they loved seeing the Aquarium and the buildings along Cannery Row and Sunset Drive from the water side, and trying to identify everything they knew. It was a totally wonderful experience! Thank you Benjie, and the rest of your crew. You made our day!

Great trip - We are a married couple in our 30's with no children, After extensive searching on the internet we decided to go with The princess Monterey for our Whale watching due to mainly the size of the vessel and the times of the trips. We drove from Yosemite in the morning to meet the 10am dept but actually arrived earlier, we were asked if we wanted to do the 9am tour (if you are trying to decide between the two time - DO THE EARLIEST YOU CAN...) We are so glad we went for the earlier tour, reason being is the you are one of the first boats out there looking for the whales (all the yachts talk to each other so if one finds a group of whales its not long till the other boats join you - If you are the first boat in the morning then you will more than likely 'babysit' the area until the others arrive) We saw humpback whales, dolphins and obviously sea-lions. The humpbacks were incredible and massive! As we were the first boat around the whales had no trouble being curious with us and displaying their tail flips just yards from the side. It really is quite humbling seeing something so large next to you. Another reason I was glad we went for the Princess Monterey, The size of the humpbacks can reach over 50foot and 50 tonnes in weight! I couldn't imagine being on a smaller boat ( also the swell gets very big out there and not for those who get sea sick - I strongly recommend taking some pills just in case.) The naturist was very informative and professional, we learned a few things as well. All in all I couldnt recommend this company enough - Defiantly one of the highlights of our 2 week trip to the USA.

We did manage to see 2 humpback whales after almost an hour on the sea. It was not very close but was a good experience. The best part is the dolphins swimming next to the boat. There were so many dolphins and they are very fast so you need to be ready with camera. Overall was a great experience except those who were sea sick. I recommend sitting at the back of the boat since it is less bumpy when the boat hit the waves. The staff are friendly and the guide is great.

The execution of the whale watching tour was professional and nice. The only caveat was the at short notice change of schedule. As we were arriving from about 3 hours away, to learn that the tour doesn't take place as booked at 2:00 pm but at 10 am in the morning was a little bit of a hassle in planning our trip.

we had a nice trip with a great guide. the staff was attentive and fun.

We were Disappointed.... its seems 90% of the time the boat is traveling.... and very little time to see the whales.... Plus the whales were so far from the boat... it was hard to see... They should take down the video they have at the office.. its show whales right next to the boat.... when you see that you have high expectations... But later you will be Disappointed....

The commentary on this trip was fantastic-we saw hump back whales, sea lions.porpoise,dolphins and then the big one THE BLUE WHALE! We were very lucky and would recommend this trip to all.